Chennai, July 31 Tamil Nadu government is set to promulgate an ordinance with immediate effect to ban online games that include betting and gambling and also regulate games that are addictive in nature by restricting the time and money spent on them.
A high-level committee constituted by the state government headed by retired Judge of Madras High Court, Justice K. Chandru had recommended the banning of online games. The committee submitted its report to Chief Minister M. K. Stalin on June 27.
State Chief Secretary V. Irai Anbu had held a meeting of top officials on Saturday to bring out a ban on online betting and gambling but will not go for a strict ban on all online games. Instead, the government is planning to restrict and regulate the games and limit the time spent on online games to one a day or once in a week. The amount of money to be spent on online games will also be restricted.
Seventeen people have committed suicide in the past three years due to online games. The committee constituted by the government has given a report that online games have turned into an addiction in nature for those playing and money is lost in huge volumes.
The Central government is also in discussions with the states to bring in new legislation or changes in the existing legislation to regulate the industry.
A study by the Union government has pegged the number of people playing online games in the country at 400 million and expected to reach 700 million by 2025.
Several political parties in the state including Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) have been vociferously campaigning in the state for effecting a ban in the state for online games.
However, sources in the government told that if a total ban is implemented, it would lead to several legal battles, and hence it is contemplating a regulation of the game and to allow only a restricted amount to be spent in a fixed period of time to play online games.
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